Himachal Pradesh: Twelve dead in road accident

Shimla: Twelve people, some of them children, were killed in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district when their vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a 700-metre-deep gorge while they were on their way back from playing a cricket match, police said on Monday. The accident took place on Sunday night.

The victims were all between 11 and 25 years old. They died on the spot and their bodies were recovered from the wreckage early on Monday, Superintendent of Police BM Sharma said.

The group, from Kuthar and other villages in Badgran panchayat in Bharmour subdivision, were returning in a multi-utility vehicle after playing a cricket match. Sharma said the accident occurred on Sunday night near the Kuthar rivulet, 80 km from district headquarters Chamba. The cause of the accident is still to be ascertained.

The accident happened in Himachal's Chamba district when a vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a 700-metre-deep gorge.

Eyewitnesses said the authorities had a tough time extricating the victims from the gorge. Chamba is one of remotest places in the state and scarcity and low frequency of passenger buses in the district leads to overcrowding of vehicles.